Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose

About this Course

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The basis for education in the last millennium was “reading, writing, and arithmetic;” now it is reading, writing, and computing. Learning to program is an essential part of the education of every student, not just in the sciences and engineering, but in the arts, social sciences, and humanities, as well. Beyond direct applications, it is the first step in understanding the nature of computer science’s undeniable impact on the modern world.  This course covers the first half of our book Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach (the second half is covered in our Coursera course Computer Science: Algorithms, Theory, and Machines). Our intent is to teach programming to those who need or want to learn it, in a scientific context. 
We begin by introducing basic programming elements such as variables, conditionals, loops, arrays, and I/O. Next, we turn to functions, introducing key concepts such as recursion, modular programming, and code reuse. Then, we present a modern introduction to object-oriented programming.

We use the Java programming language and teach basic skills for computational problem solving that are applicable in many modern computing environments. Proficiency in Java is a goal, but we focus on fundamental concepts in programming, not Java per se.

All the features of this course are available for free. It does not offer a certificate upon completion.

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Flexible deadlines

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Beginner Level

Approx. 88 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, English, Spanish

Skills you will gain

Programming PrinciplesComputer ScienceAlgorithmsJava Programming

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Beginner Level

Approx. 88 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, English, Spanish

Instructors

Instructor rating

4.77/5 (182 Ratings)

Robert Sedgewick

William O. Baker *39 Professor of Computer Science

Computer Science

971,143 Learners

7 Courses

Kevin Wayne

Phillip Y. Goldman '86 Senior Lecturer

Computer Science

947,564 Learners

5 Courses

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating94%(3,559 ratings)

Week

1

Week 1

10 hours to complete

BASIC PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS

Why program? This lecture addresses that basic question. Then it describes the anatomy of your first program and the process of developing a program in Java using either virtual terminals or a program development environment, with some historical context. Most of the lecture is devoted to a thorough coverage of Java's built-in data types, with example programs for each.

10 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 75 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

2

Week 2

9 hours to complete

CONDITIONALS AND LOOPS

The if, while, and for statements are Java's fundamental control structures. This lecture is built around short programs that use these constructs to address important computational tasks. Examples include sorting, computing the square root, factoring, and simulating a random process. The lecture concludes with a detailed example illustrating the process of debugging a program.

9 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 56 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

3

Week 3

9 hours to complete

ARRAYS

Computing with a large sequence of values of the same type is extremely common. This lecture describes Java's built-in array data structure that supports such applications, with several examples, including shuffling a deck of cards, the coupon collector test for randomness, and random walks in a grid.

9 hours to complete

3 videos (Total 57 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

4

Week 4

9 hours to complete

INPUT AND OUTPUT

To interact with our programs, we need mechanisms for taking information from the outside world and for presenting information to the outside world. This lecture describes several such mechanisms: for text, drawings, and animation. Detailed examples covered include fractal drawings that model natural phenomena and an animation of a ball bouncing around in the display window.

9 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 49 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

5

Week 5

9 hours to complete

FUNCTIONS AND LIBRARIES

Modular programming is the art and science of breaking a program into pieces that can be individually developed. This lecture introduces functions (Java methods), a fundamental mechanism that enables modular programming. Motivating examples include functions for the classic Gaussian distribution and an application that creates digital music.

9 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 60 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

6

Week 6

9 hours to complete

RECURSION

A recursive function is one that calls itself. This lecture introduces the concept by treating in detail the ruler function and (related) classic examples, including the Towers of Hanoi puzzle, the H-tree, and simple models of the real world based on recursion. We show a common pitfall in the use of recursion, and a simple way to avoid it, which introduces a different (related) programming paradigm known as dynamic programming.

9 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 58 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

7

Week 7

9 hours to complete

PERFORMANCE

When you develop a program, you need to be aware of its resource requirements. In this lecture, we describe a scientific approach to understanding performance, where we develop mathematical models describing the running time our programs and then run empirical tests to validate them. Eventually we come to a simple and effective approach that you can use to predict the running time of your own programs that involve significant amounts of computation.

9 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 66 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

8

Week 8

4 hours to complete

ABSTRACT DATA TYPES

In Java, you can create your own data types and use them in your programs. In this and the next lecture, we show how this ability allows us to view our programs as abstract representations of real-world concepts. First we show the mechanics of writing client programs that use data types. Our examples involve abstractions such as color, images, and genes. This style of programming is known as object-oriented programming because our programs manipulate objects, which hold data type values.

4 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 53 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

9

Week 9

9 hours to complete

CREATING DATA TYPES

Creating your own data types is the central activity in modern Java programming. This lecture covers the mechanics (instance variables, constructors, instance methods, and test clients) and then develops several examples, culminating in a program that uses a quintessential mathematical abstraction (complex numbers) to create visual representations of the famous Mandelbrot set.

9 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 59 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes

Week

10

Week 10

9 hours to complete

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

We conclude the course with an overview of important issues surrounding programming languages. To convince you that your knowledge of Java will enable you to learn other programming languages, we show implementations of a typical program in C, C++, Python, and Matlab. We describe important differences among these languages and address fundamental issues, such as garbage collection, type checking, object oriented programming, and functional programming with some brief historical context.

9 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 67 min), 1 reading, 2 quizzes

Reviews

4.8

151 reviews

5 stars
85.83%
4 stars
8.58%
3 stars
2.36%
2 stars
1.28%
1 star
1.93%

TOP REVIEWS FROM COMPUTER SCIENCE: PROGRAMMING WITH A PURPOSE

by VSMay 13, 2019

Beautiful course. I am a software developer with 10+ years of experience in programming and have never realized depth of actual MATH behind all that I do. Thank you Robert Sedgewick, you are the BEST.

by SMAug 15, 2020

This course was great for learning Java, but I believe it could have been better if it had covered the actual "computer science" aspect (like the anatomy of a computer, history of computing, etc.)

by BBMar 12, 2019

Excellent course, inface the best I found on any MOOC platform for a complete beginner to Java. Loved it. Would appreciate more coding assignments though. Only week 1 & 2 have those.

by LMSep 21, 2019

I liked this course very much. Good materials and perfect lecturers. Good structured and well explained material and interesting exercises ranging from very beginner to challenging.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll, you’ll have access to all videos and programming assignments.
Do I need to pay for this course?
No. The lecture videos, exercises, and programming assignments are all available for free.
Can I earn a certificate in this course?
No. As per Princeton University policy, no certificates, credentials, or reports are awarded in connection with this course.
For whom is this course intended?
This course is aimed at first-year college students, high school students, and professionals in all fields who are interested in learning basic programming skills. It is a self-contained treatment intended for people with little or no previous experience in programming. It is also appropriate for people who know another programming language but want to learn Java.
At Princeton, over 50% of all undergraduates take the course, including students majoring in engineering, biology, physics, chemistry, economics, and many other fields, not just computer science.
Which kinds of assessments are available in this course?
Multiple-choice exercises, in-video quizzes, and programming assignments. The programming assignments are evaluated using a sophisticated autograder that provides detailed feedback about style, correctness, and (sometimes) efficiency.
Which Java programming environment will I use?
We supply a streamlined version of IntelliJ that is easy to install and suitable for novices. However, you are free to use any programming environment that you like.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose